Ch 23: Shipwreck

Chapter 23: Shipwreck

"Okay, then let's head to Red-Hair's waters first," Ayaan nodded. "It's more rational than you rushing straight into Whitebeard's territory right now."

Ace chuckled, clearly unconcerned by Ayaan's caution. To be precise, he was simply too proud—and in dire need of a good beating.

In the original timeline, when he fought Yamato, he was shocked that someone so powerful wasn't the captain of the Beasts Pirates. This alone showed how limited his understanding was.

Unlike Luffy, who at the threshold of entering the New World met both Kizaru and Rayleigh, Ace hadn't experienced that sort of wake-up call. Luffy even took part in the Battle of Marineford, giving him a firsthand understanding of the true strength of the Four Emperors and the Three Admirals.

That was Luffy's luck. If not for the incident at Sabaody Archipelago and the war at Marineford, and if not for the two years of intense training that followed, their journey into the New World would've likely ended in tragedy.

Similarly, if Ace had recognized the sheer power of the Admirals and the Emperors earlier and taken time to lay low and train, his encounter with Whitebeard might have turned out very differently.

But Ayaan didn't intend to warn him. After all, joining the Whitebeard Pirates would be the biggest gain for Ayaan.

"Alright then! Spade Pirates—set sail!"

...

"Hey Ace, where are we now?" Ayaan asked, confused.

As a ninja, Ayaan had learned some basic astrology and navigation skills to survive in the wild. After arriving in the One Piece world, he studied simple sailing techniques.

After spending some time sailing through the New World, he felt something was off. Although most navigation knowledge was useless here—since even the stars couldn't be trusted—he could still tell when they were going in the wrong direction.

The smile on Ace's face was a little forced. "This… maybe… probably..."

Ayaan's expression darkened, his eyes turning into a lifeless, dead-fish stare. "Tell me we're not lost, right?"

Ace nodded awkwardly.

Ayaan slapped him across the face.

Shit! I thought Ace was the only reliable guy in the Spade Pirates. And now this guy's ruined everything!

Are you a trick sent by the heavens just to mess with me!?

Getting lost in the New World was no small matter. One important detail: if you followed the magnetic pull of a log pose or a permanent pose, the route would generally be safer. In the wildly unpredictable climate of the New World, that's about as "stable" as it gets.

Stray from the route, and the weather could turn fatal in an instant. Icebergs falling from the sky, meteor showers, reverse-flowing seas—totally normal.

In even more extreme cases, you might get an underwater volcanic eruption mid-voyage, with magma boiling up and destroying the ship.

And what you fear most often becomes reality. Just as Ayaan was about to say more, the entire ship shook violently.

"A surge!" Ayaan and Ace both paled. The other Spade Pirates were stunned, but before they could react, the ship was hurled upward, hundreds of meters into the air—and it was still rising. Ayaan guessed it could easily reach thousands of meters.

Falling from that height, even a ship made of Adam Wood or Wapometal would be reduced to splinters. If you could find even a palm-sized piece afterward, you'd call that lucky.

"Ace!" Ayaan yelled suddenly, mouth wide open.

Ace reacted instantly, transforming into fire and diving straight into Ayaan's open mouth.

Then, Ayaan swallowed himself whole. When he emerged, his legs had transformed into mechanical limbs, like Iron Man's.

Flames erupted from under his feet, and Ayaan-Ace flew downward. As the Spade Pirates' ship hit its peak and began to fall, Ayaan-Ace shot beneath it, ready to hold it up.

With a loud crack, his hands punched into the ship's hull.

Damn it! Why do superheroes in movies lift planes so easily? They never break anything!

Is it some kind of biological magnetic field? Oh—there's a solution!

Armament Haki surged from his hands, spreading across the ship's base. Reinforced by Haki, the ship finally stabilized.

Still, even with their combined strength, the burden of supporting an entire pirate ship midair was tremendous.

"We need to bring it down—shit, a waterspout!"

In just a second, a massive sea tornado formed, and before Ayaan-Ace could react, it swallowed the entire ship.

All that was left was a scream.

...

"I feel dizzy..." Ayaan groaned as he opened his eyes, drained of all strength. The fusion had ended—Ace was no longer inside him, and the ability of the Baku Baku no Mi had deactivated due to exhaustion.

After all, it was only a temporary fusion—not a true merge. If a living person were permanently fused, Ayaan's and Ace's personalities would combine.

Of course, before that even happened, their Devil Fruits might explode from internal conflict.

Ayaan once heard that the Baku Baku no Mi could fuse two Devil Fruit powers, but the truth was, this fusion was always temporary. Permanently altering the body would still result in the abilities conflicting.

The fusion continued to drain Ayaan's stamina—and once he was fully spent, it ended automatically.

He raised his head and saw he was lying on a beach.

Not far away, the Spade Pirates' ship was grounded at an angle, beached by the waves.

Half of Ayaan's body was soaked in seawater, and he was completely drained—but thanks to the chakra in his body, he could still move a little.

Seawater and Seastone weakened physical strength, but had almost no effect on chakra.

So Ayaan pushed himself up, ready for whatever came next.

---